I recall that years ago drivers, NASCAR and open wheel, would sit a ways back from the steering wheel, with just a bend in the elbow. In fact, there was one NASCAR driver who sat up close and the commentators would comment on it.
Now it seems that most drivers in both type of race sit up close, with their chests almost touching the wheel.
So why the change, if there has indeed been a change.
Peace,
mangeorge, ND
In NASCAR, the closer the driver sits to the wheel the less effort is required to turn the steering wheel. In the past decade, drivers have adopted specially fitted seats which act as a protective cocoon to prevent injury in crashes. In the old days, sitting too close to the wheel probably invited getting thrown into the wheel in a crash and getting your ribs broke (or worse).
In open wheel, aerodynamics have always said that the lower the driver sits the more efficient the car will go through the air. However, the driver does need to be high enough to see, obviously and generally the you could see a driver’s upper body while he sat in the car. Anyhow a big turning point in open wheel design/safety were the deaths of Ratzenburger and Senna at Imola in 1994. After that cockpit sides were built up to protect drivers’ heads. So while it may look like drivers are sitting “lower” than they used to, I don’t think they sit any lower now than they ever did in the recent past.
I’m not very familiar with the technical history of NASCAR, but it does seem that, compared to open wheel cars, they do sit very close to a very large wheel, and have a very restrictive upright seat. fiddlesticks has explained the reasons for this and I believe his description of the changes in open wheel cockpit design are correct.
But I have not noticed any change in the basic posture of the driver or the relative position of wheel in Formula One, Champ Car, or IRL in the last ten years or more. Sit on your bed with your feet out straight and your shoulders up against the headboard so your head is straight up. That’s about the position of an open wheel driver, except that the lower legs would be angled down a little below the level of the bed. The pros have seats that are custom molded to their bodies for a perfect fit.
The arms are extended straight out, but slightly bent at the elbow. The steering wheels are very small compared to NASCAR wheels, and oval or butterfly shaped, with instruments and controls. In F1, the driver never has to take his hands off the wheel. In Champ Car (and IRL, IIRC) the sequential shifter is off the wheel, under the driver’s right hand, and other controls (weight jacker, brake bias, etc.) are elsewhere in the cockpit.
How do I know all this? Here’sme in Michael Andretti’s 1996 Lola Champ Car. (I just sat in it. I never got to drive it.) But I did drive a Barber Dodge car at the Skip Barber racing school at Mid-Ohio in 2001. And here I am at the Mario Andretti School at the Las Vegas Speedway in 2004.
In the past drivers sat away from the steering wheels for one simple reason, the steering wheels were firmly attached to the steering column, the driver needed room to enter and exit the car. With the advent of the removeable steering wheel coupler, this no longer was an issue. The last few years I drove race cars I used couplers and thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I could sit closer to the wheel and did not get as tired, especially during long races.
Another impact on cockpit design for F1 is the use of electronic gear change equipment. The cockpit can be tighter and closer, and the driver does not take his hands off the wheel for the entire race. Although Lewis Hamilton may be wishing that he had a mechanical gearbox in his McLaren :smack:
Si
racer, when did that happen, because I don’t think I can recall a time before removable steering wheels, at least in the series I regularly watch, and I’ve been following Champ Car for almost 20 years. Not disputing you, just curious.
Man, that looks like fun.
Me, I sit in my Honda pickup and make race car noises. 
Maybe I was hallucinating the close-to-wheel posture in open wheel cars.
Minor nitpick: Champ Car got wheel mounted paddle shifters this year; not sure if the weight jacker and brake adjustments have gone electronic as well.
The most fun you can have with your pants on! Read my thread about High Performance Driver’s Ed, take your Honda to the nearest track, and start having some real fun.
Or if you’ve got three thousand bucks burning a hole in your pocket, sign up for a 3-day racing school with Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, or any of a number of other reputable racing schools. (I won’t recommend the Mario Andretti School in this context, because it’s not so much a school as a high-priced ride.)
But some time in less-expensive HPDE classes in your own car first will let you get a lot more out of the expensive racing schools. I did Skip Barber two years after starting HPDE, and did a lot better than most of the rest of my classmates who had never been on track before.
T_SQUARE: thanks for the update. I have to admit I’ve switched most of my racing attention away from Champ Cars to F1 and IRL in the last few years.
I’m a codger, so my racing-fan memory goes back a little farther. My parents took me to my first Indy 500 in the late 1950s. The cars were taller, and the driver’s position was more like sitting on the floor with your back up against the wall. The steering wheels were big, nearly shoulder width, because race cars didn’t have power steering yet. The cockpit was roomy enough to exit without removing the wheel, so it stayed put. Things got much snugger and lower when the mid-engine cars took over in the mid-60s, but the butterfly steering “wheel” didn’t come until much later.
In NASCAR, where the position is still upright, the changes in the last two decades are partly due to power steering and improved driver safety. Not long ago, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. lost his power steering during a race. He struggled on without it. He said he learned a lot during that race. He’d had power steering his whole career, unlike his dad, who came up in the era where drivers had to wrestle a car through a corner.
The current NASCAR seat wraps around the driver’s sides, to keep him from flopping around in a crash. The Head And Neck Support (HANS) device allows very little head motion. In the Car Of Tommorow, the seat has moved farther away from the side window, but they driver still has to give those crucial hand signals to other drivers. The seat has to be moved forward, so the driver can still reach that little slot between the window net and the windshield post.
NASCAR mandated removeable steering wheels about 1985. This is about the time power steering became the norm on Winston Cup racecars. My first racecar with a removeable steering wheel was a late model I drove in 1988. During the 1988 season we ran a support race for the CART series at Portland International, there were some older Indy cars there for display. I sat in a car from 1982 and had to turn the wheel 90 degrees to get in, the steering wheel on that car was not removeable. It didn’t help I was about 50 pounds heavier than the driver of that particular car, Scott Brayton.
The method to attaching the quick release wheels has also changed. The early versions used a locking pin to hold the wheel to the steering column, this is what I was familiar with. During a NASCAR race at Dover in the early 90’s, Derrike Cope was involved in a crash and his car caught fire. He had a hard time getting out of the car, the impact was strong enough to bend the steering wheel and prevent the pin from being removed. 2 weeks later NASCAR outlawed that particular wheel release and required a sliding lock version you see today.
When drivers were fat, and tires were skinny.
Precisely! I was tempted to put that in.